Taiwan asserting itself, in name only

Drops `China' from state institutions

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Odd as it seems, China Airlines doesn't fly to the Chinese capital or, for that matter, anywhere in the vast heartland of the People's Republic.

That's because the airline belongs to the other China--the Republic of China, better known as Taiwan.

For more than half a century, through decades of gaffes and misdirected phone calls from the outside world, archrival governments in Beijing and Taipei have each retained the name China on state-run businesses and agencies, a cold war over words between the mainland and the self-ruled island it calls a renegade province.

"I, myself, get confused," said Joseph Wu, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

But the joint custody of the name China is beginning to crumble, a telling sign of how China's rise in the world and Taiwan's deepening isolation are further fueling their dangerous feud.

This month, Taiwan's government abruptly pulled the name China from some key state-run institutions: China Shipbuilding, for instance, became Taiwan International Shipbuilding; the postal service went from Chunghwa Post, which uses a Mandarin word for China, to Taiwan Post.

In the high-stakes standoff across the Taiwan Straits--China has roughly 1,000 missiles pointed at the island, by Taiwan's count--these name changes are no small matters.

They are part of a broader effort by pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian to promote Taiwanese identity and distance the island from its increasingly powerful neighbor. Chen is also moving to play down Chinese history in textbooks and public monuments and is planning to print stamps in the name of Taiwan rather than China.

The changes have drawn sharp criticism from Beijing, which tolerates Taiwan's de facto separation but has vowed to attack if the island ever declares formal independence. The changes also drew disapproval from Washington, which fears any moves by Taiwan that could upset peace in Asia.

Reversal of fortunes

Taiwan's leaders say they have no choice. As China's stature grows in diplomacy and business, Taiwan's standing has eroded faster than at any point since 1979, when the U.S. officially switched its recognition to the Beijing government.

Communist Party leaders have proved adept at deploying trade and development aid to win diplomatic alliances that isolate Taiwan. Since 2000, Beijing has succeeded in persuading seven nations to break relations with Taiwan and recognize China.

"The Chinese side doesn't hesitate anymore in twisting Taiwan's arm in international participation and, of course, that kind of thing is getting on our nerves," said Wu, adding, "The government establishment had to think of a way to make a distinction between China and Taiwan."

In some ways, the name controversy belies positive signs in relations between the two governments. China has benefited from roughly $100 billion in Taiwanese investment, and hundreds of thousands of businesspeople flow back and forth. The governments are nearing a deal that could allow direct flights between the two for the first time in decades.

But Taiwan's move to distance itself from China poignantly reflects the fundamental dynamic in Taiwan today: the island's continued reversal of fortune over the past half-century.

When China's civil war ended in 1949, Communist forces under Mao Tse-tung had defeated the Nationalists. Their leader, Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan along with 2 million mainland Chinese to transplant their Republic and plot their return.

In the five decades that followed, the island shed authoritarianism in favor of democracy and drove up living standards, while across the Straits, political campaigns left China poor and chaotic. Taiwan had become an Asian Tiger, the proud, urbane, high-tech hope of the Chinese-speaking world.

Overtaking a tiger

But in less than a decade, China's double-digit annual growth and relaxed personal freedoms have revolutionized the world's most populous country, eclipsing Taiwan and emerging as an Asian power without equal.

"We find we have been overshadowed by China in diplomatic and business terms," said Parris Chang, an analyst and former lawmaker. "There's no question that Chinese outreach has eroded Taiwan's diplomatic standing."

The name changes have a practical motivation as well. For much of its postwar history, communist China was an ideological and idiosyncratic voice in world affairs, a power symbolized by its monochromatic Mao suits, and there was little confusing it with the business-minded Taiwan. But today Chinese executives and diplomats are in every corner of the globe, involved in everything from oil exploration to space research and non-proliferation talks.